I feel like the people who say this simply haven’t listened to much of it, because there’s melody all over rap and hip-hop music, especially more contemporary rap.
OK, I'll out myself: I haven't listened to much rap. On the other hand, this is because of the impression I've gotten from the rap that I have heard. I'm open to trying some more melodic and musically interesting rap pieces, especially because the rhyming system of rap sounds interesting. Do you have any to recommend?
Hip hop can include elements of any other genre, so if you shared what kind of music you do like, it might be easier for others to direct you to hip hop you might also like.
I'm quite partial to instrumental hip hop personally; for example, "Jet Son" by Blockhead is nearly absent of lyrics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wo5jHw56Kg . "Here's What's Left" by RJD2 on the other hand is lyrical, but the lyrics aren't really rap, and the production overshadows it in my opinion (I initially heard it as an "instrumental"/vocal-less track which I can no longer find online) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECvbG7ioz-k
I don't listen to much hip hop with lyrics lately, but pretty much any type of music can be rapped over. For example, "Stan" by Eminem uses Dido's "Thank you" which might otherwise be classifed as electropop or trip-hop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sixjHud8lYw
Try the album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz, it's one of my favorite records of all time. It's doing a ton of interesting things musically, plus Simz is an incredible rapper.
